HONG KONG: Police Monday will carry out a search at the home of a 19-year-old suspect in a triad melee last month that left a 15-year-old dead.

Mok Tsz-yeung and three unidentified boys appeared at the Kwun Tong Magistracy yesterday charged with murder. They did not enter pleas and were remanded into custody until March 5 at the Correctional Service Department.

Mok was arrested in connection with the death of 15-year-old Ng Fuk-kai, an unemployed high school dropout. Ng, who was on bail in connection with an earlier gang fight, was in the company of four other teens aged 14 to 17 when they were set upon by more than a dozen assailants on January 15.

Police say Ng suffered repeated blows after being knocked to the ground in the brawl.

Police have arrested 15 males and a female in connection with the case. The suspects range in age from 15 to 22. Nine of those arrested have been released on bail pending further enquiries. Two others have been released without charges.

Following the fight, the deceased Ng was admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where he remained in a coma until he died three days later.

A post-mortem revealed Ng died of internal bleeding brought on by a ruptured liver.

Police say Ng was a member of the triad group, Wo On Lok, also known as Shui Fong. The four youths who were in the company of Ng at the time of the attack were treated and discharged. Police say they believe two of the youths to be Wo On Lok members.

The attack came in retaliation for a January 4 fight in which four suspected 14K triad members were ambushed by Wo On Lok, according to reports. Ng was among the 11 people arrested for the fight in Wong Tai Sin.

The city saw 1,906 reports of triad related crime in the first 10 months of last year according to police, a 5.4 percent drop from 2,014 cases reported in 2008.

Kowloon East Regional Crime Unit is investigating the murder case.

(HK Edition 02/06/2010 page1)